Evoken

Background

Evoken is an American funeral doom/death metal band that is influenced by the Australian band Disembowelment and the Finnish band Thergothon. The band name Evoken was taken from the Thergothon song found on the Fhtagn nagh Yog-Sothoth demo. The band was founded by guitarist Nick Orlando under the name Funereus in April of 1992. It was with the original line-up of Rob-Bass/Vocals; Nick-Guitar; Phil-Guitar & Vince-Drums that they recorded what would be the first & only Funereus release...the Rehersal/Demo 1992. After briefly changing their name to Asmodeus the following year, the band eventually decided upon the name Evoken in 1994 after several line up changes. They headlined the Dutch Doomsday Festival in 2003 during a brief European tour of Holland, Belgium & the UK.

Incorporating deeply reverbed clean guitars, keyboards, cello and a strong dark ambient influence to their cavernous sound, the band has since grown more hypnotic and experimental in their approach from earlier days-yet still maintain their death/doom/funeral influences. Evoken is one of the earliest U.S. doom/death metal bands that are still active today.

Evoken have recently left Avantgarde Music of Italy after releasing two albums with the label & have signed to I Hate Records of Sweden as of January 2007. Their new album entitled "A Caress Of the Void" has been completed & will be released later this summer.

Lyndhurst, New Jersey-based doom/death metal act EVOKEN has announced the addition of keyboardist Don Zaros to the group's ranks. The group says in a statement, "[Don] is a very talented musician with a lot of knowledge regarding this type of music...which is exactly what we were looking for. EVOKEN has started practicing again as a full band (finally) after a lengthy layoff and initial rehearsals have been very promising."

EVOKEN's latest CD, "A Caress of the Void", was released last month via Sweden's I Hate Records. The seven-song effort contains around 62 minutes of music and features artwork by dark mastermind Valentin Mellstrom.

According to a press release, "EVOKEN are, together with THEROTHON, WINTER and DISEMBOWELMENT, the originators of the doom/deaths cene, a scene we have hithertho never ventured into. The reason is simple, we haven't found bands genuine enough to work with. With EVOKEN it's different, they are able to conjure truly nightmarish visions of abysmal depths in Lovecraftian fashion like no other band, without ever falling prey to contrived 'gothmospheric' sobbing or teen-angst-ridden nonsense."

Foreshadow Productions welcomes Methadrone to their label with the following statement:

"We are extremely proud to announce the signing of a new artist to our label - excellent American project METHADRONE! The artist behind the project, Craig Pillard, is definitely not a new-comer to the music scene as he is known from his work in INCANTATION in the 90-ties and as a current bass player for EVOKEN. Under the METHADRONE moniker he explores doom / drone areas of the musical spectrum. His newest album entitled "Sterility" will be released in Spring of 2008, but already in November we are releasing a free internet single promoting the album. In the meantime check out a new track from the up-coming release entitled "Self Relinquishment" with guest vocals from David Galas, which is available on METHADRONE MySpace page."

OFFICIUM TRISTE, ASUNDER and COLOSSEUM are among the bands that will appear on the forthcoming tribute to THERGOTHON, due later in the year via Russia's Solitude Productions. The projected track listing for the two-disc set is as follows:

Dutch "atmospheric doomsters" OFFICIUM TRISTE have issued the following update:

"We have been contacted by Solitude Productions from Russia to participate in a THERGOTHON tribute. Of course we said yes. We will record the track 'Crying Blood and Crimson Snow' off the 'Stream from the Heavens' album. At this moment we know that EVOKEN will also include a song. The plan is to release a double disc, with on disc 1 bands from the doom metal spectrum doing covers and the second disc with other (metal) bands."

OFFICIUM TRISTE recently spent time at Excess studio in Rotterdam, Holland recording their new album, "Giving Yoursefl Away", tentatively due this spring. Songtitles set to appear on the CD include "Your Eyes", "My Charcoal Heart", "Signals", "On the Crossroad of Souls", "Inside the Mind" and "Master of your own Demise".

OFFICIUM TRISTE's third full-length album, "Reason", was released in 2004 via Displeased Records. The CD was recorded at the band's own El Pato studio.

Lyndhurst, New Jersey-based doom/death metal act EVOKEN has inked a deal with Sweden's I Hate Records. The group's new album is tentatively scheduled for release next May-June. According to a press release, "EVOKEN are, together with THEROTHON, WINTER and DISEMBOWELMENT, the originators of the doom/deaths cene, a scene we have hithertho never ventured into. The reason is simple, we haven't found bands genuine enough to work with. With EVOKEN it's different, they are able to conjure truly nightmarish visions of abysmal depths in Lovecraftian fashion like no other band, without ever falling prey to contrived 'gothmospheric' sobbing or teen-angst-ridden nonsense."

Commenteed the band: "Both sides are very excited about working together; and the new material is being completed now. Expect no less then the greatest EVOKEN work yet!! We feel very strongly about this material and are looking forward to making it available to our fans a lot faster then the last four-year wait."

Solitude Productions has announced the long awaited re-release of EVOKEN's album "Embrace the Emptiness", which has already become a cult one. This is the first full-length album of EVOKEN, which was previously released in 1998 by the American label Elegy Records in limited edition. That is why some time later it became an object of search for doom-metal fans all over the world.

Now everyone has the opportunity to buy this album, published on a gold CD with a completely new and exclusive design. This CD is not for sale in North and South America.

American customers should order their CDs from Elegy Records or directly from the band.

US ultradoomsters Evoken have completed their line-up with a new bassist, Craig Pillard. Comments the band: "We are EXTREMELY honored, and proud to announce the newest member of Evoken. Former Incantation, Disciples of Mockery, and current mastermind of Methadrone Craig Pillard as our new bassist.

"We have been good friends with Craig for many years and it was only a matter of time before we could combine Craig's sound, talent, and experience with Evoken. We are very excited about the future of Evoken, with many things planned for the future. So Evoken are now a complete line-up once again as: John Paradiso-Guitars/Vocals, Nick Orlando-Guitars and Clean Guitars, Craig Pillard-Bassist, Denny Hahn-Keyboards, and Vince Verkay-Drums."